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Zorro:" The question now is where does France go from here? Long term there are only two enemies left worth fighting, Japan and the Soviet Union. Both would be a challenging fight."

Hi Zorro,

there is one more wannabe hegemon to rid the world of... They like to call themselves America while only being USA.

Great AAR, BTW.

Rgds, Oldtimer
 
This is a great AAR. Very well done. Just read all seven page's in one go.
Good to hear you're planning to continue it, instead of stopping now that your worst enemy has been crushed.

Eagerly awaiting the next update!
Welcome to the AAR and thank you. Germany mat be defeated but there is still enemies left to fight :) The next update will be out later today.


Zorro:" The question now is where does France go from here? Long term there are only two enemies left worth fighting, Japan and the Soviet Union. Both would be a challenging fight."

Hi Zorro,

there is one more wannabe hegemon to rid the world of... They like to call themselves America while only being USA.

Great AAR, BTW.

Rgds, Oldtimer
I do not think I will attack America. The time limit at 1948 will stop me short of anything like a world conquest. Japan still have to be beaten and I'd like to deal with the USSR. Don't think the USA would be much of a challenege since we are allied. I'd likely just invade Mexico and build up some ports. Send the army over first then leave the allies and declare war on them.

Great AAR, BTW.
Thank you I'm glad you took the time to read it!

They like to call themselves America while only being USA.
Americans is just shorthand instead of saying United States of Americans. Plus no other country in North or South America use "America" in their official name so I never saw A problem with it. If that ever changed then I don't think America and USA should be interchangeable.
 
To the Pacific

With no military needs in Europe at the moment I can finally reorganize the army. The 1st Armored Army is sent into Northern Germany to regroup and deal with a fairly good sized rebellion. The 4th and 5th armies are on their way back to their original positions. While the 2nd and 3rd armies are reroute to positions in central Germany. The 1st Allied Army is sent to Venice. These moves are just to get all the divisions back with their HQs.

January 3rd The British have liberated. Norway, Denmark, and Poland so they are now back on the map.



The French navy is pretty much a joke at this point in the game. Regardless I need them now despite their weakness. While I’m having fun reorganizing and planning things, these annoying pop ups keep informing me of convoys being sunk by Japan.

The navy will go to the Far East and do what they can. They won’t be going alone. I’ll be sending a Corps of infantry from the 1st Allied Army with them. Their destination will be Australia with the objective to save it from being annexed by Japan. Australia was kind enough to send troops to France when I needed aid, it would be rude not to do the same. Plus it would be a real pain in the rear to take Australia back once Japan has total control.



The Japanese have already pushed out from Sydney and the Australians are losing ground fast. Have to get their as quickly as possible. It will be a dangerous journey with the Imperial Navy lurking about. Not sure of the strength of their navy but I’m sure they have carriers and current doctrines.

One of my biggest disappointments when the USSR declaring war on Germany was I never got revenge on the Luftwaffe. Well I guess I did run over their air bases but never revenge from the French air force. All I could do was contest their air supremacy every so often. The air force will seek redemption in Australia. The bombers and interceptors can get there much faster than my ground troops and can help slow down the Imperial advance.

February 2nd the Australian expedition is going well so far. The air force was able to destroy a Japanese marine division. Another division was targeted for bombing and the CAS wings are already on the way. The French Navy has made it to the lone French province in India and from their will go to Saigon. This will be the tricky part. A Japanese fleet is somewhere around Singapore.



On February 8th the fleet made it safely to Saigon and is now on its way to Australia. A couple of Japanese transports were sunk on the way there. The 1st Fleet made it through ok but was far ahead of the 2nd fleet (which is just submarines and transports) so the 1st fleet was stopped and then ordered to wait for the 2nd Fleet to arrive. The 2nd fleet came under attack but was able to escape intact. The fleets scrambled for the Australian port in Darwin instead of their original destination near Sydney. While the fleets were running for their lives the air force managed to destroy another Imperial Division.

The Japanese have pressed deep into the interior but still only have the one port in Sydney. The fleet will transport the ground units to Sydney and seal Japan’s fate in Australia.

At this time the 30 radar stations in production finished up. I never knew I could build them all at once and then place them anywhere. I thought it was like naval bases or I would have built them sooner. In any case I put them in 3 spots along the USSR border. Finally in the positive for manpower, can’t remember the last time I had some, though it is still low. I’m not going to spend it yet but it is nice to see it, even if it’s only in the double digits.

Taking a look around the pacific, I can see the Japanese have made a mess of things, the Japanese control many islands and have begun an invasion of New Zealand. It would be impractical to try and retake everything at this point. Japan with its larger navy would simply take them back as soon as I left. I don’t have the transport/escort numbers to try and supply every island so garrisoning them would not be good either. What I’ve always found the easiest way (at least in previous HoI games) to deal with Japan is invade their home islands. With the bulk of their resources gone there they are effectively neutralized.

Any move to invade Japan itself at this point would be extremely risky. It would hinge entirely on being able to land troops in Japan while their navy ignores me. Possible but risky. Even then I don’t know how well supplied they would be, due to the lack of convoys.

The combined French fleets arrived at Sydney on February 23. There however, was a small enemy garrison so I landed in the adjacent province and attacked the port from there.



It would appear convoys and escorts do not require any manpower, I feel silly:blush:. 30 escorts and 30 convoys are put into production.

Sydney is taken but the Imperial Navy has arrived in force and attacked the 1st fleet. The naval battle was lost but 1st Fleet escaped intact to Sydney. I’m expanding out from Sydney and the Japanese units there are no match for the veterans of 1st Allied Army. The air force is rebased to Sydney to provide air support.



The 2nd Fleet is extensively damaged and plans to send it back to France for reinforcements will be delayed until repairs can be made.

1944 Army techs are starting to finish and I can begin researching new things. The air force doctrine can finally be brought up to par. Can’t believe it but I have spare LS to spend. I added the carrier techs but as I think about it, that is probably a waste. It would be years before France could get carriers to sea and Japan could be defeated by then and eliminate the need for any navy.

June 4, 1944. Just when the last pockets of Japanese troops were eliminated the Japanese landed in force at the ports of Sydney and Melbourne. Not sure how but the air force based at Sydney wasn’t destroyed they moved to another close by air base. That is relief; it would have been very upsetting to lose the air force. Looking at the amount of troops Japan recently brought in; I don’t think a corps of infantry is enough to repel them. The fleet is going to have to go back to France to transport more forces over.



In Europe I’m concerned about the USSR. If they attacked right now it would be devastating. I still haven’t deployed the army to the border. I will start doing this now. The 4th Army would be deployed first and moved into positions in the former Yugoslavia. While I move divisions into place it seems that I won’t have enough to troops to man the entire border.

Here is the general plan for the defense of Europe (or an attack into the USSR, whichever happens first :)



Falls in line with how I defended France against Germany. The infantry armies will hold the line while the 1st Armored Army is back in reserve to blunt any Soviet offensive or exploit any weaknesses in the USSR line. Poland and Slovakia will be on their own, I do not want any supply troubles. The 1st Allied Army and the 5th Army will be deployed over to the Pacific when I can get them transported over.

Looking at what leaders I have left, I’m going to hamstrung. Only a handful of military leaders are left. There are some steps I can take to try and offset this disadvantage:

1.) Make sure every division has 5 brigades. Infantry divisions are made up of 3 infantry and an artillery brigade. I can always add another infantry, artillery, or anti-tank brigade (any advice on which would be helpful). The armored divisions also can be given an extra brigade.

2.) Build a huge air force. Increasing the amount of CAS and Interceptors would greatly benefit the army. Now that I think about it, with my increased IC and LS I can probably start building tactical bombers.

3.) Use the few military leaders left intelligently. Instead of using them on more infantry divisions I’d like to field some heavy armor, I guess it wasn't as bad as I originally thought to start research on the heavy armor while Germany was still around.

I plan on doing all three of these. The first will be the most important and I’d like to get underway ASAP in case the USSR invades.

Speaking of the USSR, their army is quite massive. Those radar stations I placed along the border are starting to come online and the Red Army’s size is stunning and who knows how many more troops are in the east fighting Japan. The real thing I’m worried about is fighting a war on a front that massive. Not only is the USSR big in its own right, it now has south Eastern Europe added to it. I’m use to fighting on a front the size of Belgium and the Netherlands.



My plan to invade the USSR is still in its infancy and naturally will not happen until I can build up reinforcements. To keep my options open however, I’m currently upgrading the naval bases and infrastructure in Syria.

That is all for this update. Have to do a little research before I continue. Need to read up on naval combat and might as well look into air combat while I’m at it. Also I need to figure out why some of my armored units are not reinforcing.

*update* thanks to Gen. Marshall for pointing out the problem. The no reinforcement button was on. That certainly explains why they weren’t reinforcing. What it doesn’t explain is how it was selected in the first place. It was on for about 6 or 7 armored divisions. Must be a shortcut button I somehow pressed. In any case now I have to go through every one of my divisions and make sure it is not on for any others. Looking back on it I bet this is how 2 of my armored divisions shattered when I was attacking Germany.

As always, thanks for reading!
 
In any case now I have to go through every one of my divisions and make sure it is not on for any others.

You do know it is possible to set reinforcement/priority/upgrade/etc for multiple units at once? Just click your highest HQ, select all subordinate units, and above the unit selection screen there will be buttons which allow you to set reinforcement/priority/upgrade/etc for all units currently selected. Works like a charm and can be used to prioritise only a specific corps or army too. Today I started a new game as France myself (your AAR gave me the inspiration :) ) and I prioritized the entire first (armoured) army for upgrades en reinforcements.
 
You do know it is possible to set reinforcement/priority/upgrade/etc for multiple units at once? Just click your highest HQ, select all subordinate units, and above the unit selection screen there will be buttons which allow you to set reinforcement/priority/upgrade/etc for all units currently selected. Works like a charm and can be used to prioritise only a specific corps or army too. Today I started a new game as France myself (your AAR gave me the inspiration :) ) and I prioritized the entire first (armoured) army for upgrades en reinforcements.
No didn't realize that, thank you! Hmm I wonder if that is how so many divisions were affected? I never checked to see if they were in the same Corps. I'm glad my AAR inspired you to start a game as France. France makes for a fun and unique game.
 
I'm deeply concerned about your lack of manpower. If you don't get some manpower reserves up and running then unless you manage to break through and encircle the entire Russian army pretty much from the word go, you won't make it to Minsk, let alone Moscow and forget Vladivostok.

Maybe those lazy Brits will get off their island and do the dying for a change. No excuse for leaving Poland undefended now, there's a freaking land connection there Churchill!
 
I'm deeply concerned about your lack of manpower. If you don't get some manpower reserves up and running then unless you manage to break through and encircle the entire Russian army pretty much from the word go, you won't make it to Minsk, let alone Moscow and forget Vladivostok.

Maybe those lazy Brits will get off their island and do the dying for a change. No excuse for leaving Poland undefended now, there's a freaking land connection there Churchill!
The lack of manpower is an issue but I won't declare war on the USSR till I built up a reserve. If they declare war on me I should be able to hold the line and stay on the defensive. I have no idea what is with the Brit AI. Germany could have been much earlier if they would have sent troops.
 
Build a bunch of anti-tank brigades. Late game Soviet Union has tons of armor and you don't want them to just blow right through your inf divisions. Especially when you don't have much in the way of reserves.

Another good idea would be to drive down to Odessa with your armor and make a giant pocket out of the Balkan peninsula. This will require motorized and/or mechanized infantry divisions to fill in behind the armor. I don't know if you'll have enough manpower to do that...
 
Build a bunch of anti-tank brigades. Late game Soviet Union has tons of armor and you don't want them to just blow right through your inf divisions. Especially when you don't have much in the way of reserves.

Another good idea would be to drive down to Odessa with your armor and make a giant pocket out of the Balkan peninsula. This will require motorized and/or mechanized infantry divisions to fill in behind the armor. I don't know if you'll have enough manpower to do that...
Would the anti-tank slow me down in the USSR?
 
It shouldn't as long as you just attach it to existing infantry divisions.
 
I'm impressed - I've no doubt I would have been overrun, much as in real-world history. It'd be fun to see you fight the Russians but with their numbers I'm not sure how you'd manage to win.
 
I'm impressed - I've no doubt I would have been overrun, much as in real-world history. It'd be fun to see you fight the Russians but with their numbers I'm not sure how you'd manage to win.
Welcome TonyJoe and thanks for reading :). It makes for a much easier game as France when you know the Germans will attack and can start to prepare in 1936.

I plan on fighting the Reds at some point in the game (wouldn't be much point to keep this AAR going otherwise) but I'm not sure when or if I could win. Ideally I would prefer to attack in mid-1946 right after I research the new army techs and my forces upgrade. That date is just when I would prefer to attack not sure if I’d be ready by that point.
 
Risks

At the very start of gameplay the 30 convoys in production finished and were deployed to Venice. In Australia the French forces are turning back around to make their way from the interior to the captured ports. The navy is repaired and is on its way back to the mainland to ferry over more troops to Australia.

In Europe my efforts to organize things on the new border are still underway. The 2nd and 3rd armies are moved to the border and I am in the process of sending the individual divisions where they need to go.

While en route to the French naval base in India, the fleet came under attack several times but didn’t take any loses. In fact they managed to sink two transports and a destroyer. They arrived safely in India and are now on their way to Venice.

By July 8th the fleet arrived in Venice. The 1st Allied Army HQ and the 3rd Corps is loaded up and the fleet is sent to India. Back in Australia, the Japanese around Melbourne have been mopped up and the focus well be moved to the Japanese pocket around Sydney.



On August 1 the reinforcements arrived and are moving to help with the attacks at the Sydney pocket. Things were looking up in Australia but the Japanese decided to stop that. The Japanese are increasing their aggression across the entire Pacific. They have landed on the other side of Australia, at Perth with at least 5 divisions. New Zealand is about to fall and various French islands around the Pacific have been invaded. This kind of stuff isn’t my cup of tea; I do not like naval management. Not looking at starting an island hopping campaign either.



Rather is annoying that I get no help from the USA or UK. The Japanese AI is competent enough to take islands, why not the USA? I want to invade Japan ASAP to stop this nonsense. I considered pulling out of Australia at this point. In the end however, there wasn’t much point, I don’t have enough transports to attempt an invasion at this time.

In Europe, units are still moving up to the border and I do not believe there will be enough to cover the entire frontline. Going to see if I can scrape together some allied units to plug the whole.

A bright spot for France is research. I have the important tech finished for this period in time (army related, industrial, and air force) and can start on the Navy. Decided to select a few essential technologies, such as basing and fire control. In an attempt to save time the fleet will be based around destroyers and cruisers. I’d prefer carriers just like anyone else but it would be such a huge time investment. Plus once Japan is defeated I won’t need a navy.

Poland really helped things out with the OOB. They sent an army HQ with a skill level 4 leader and he is not an old guard! I already had enough allied divisions to form two allied corps but couldn’t fit them into the OOB because of the lack of French military leaders. This Polish HQ will be in charge of the 2nd Allied Army which is taking form now. The two previously mentioned corps, along with a third one from 1st armored army (was attached to the armor because of OOB restrictions) are added to the 2nd Allied Army for a total of 3 corps. There is enough other allied units scattered about to make a 4th corps. Will have to wait for transport first as the units are stuck in Africa at the moment. The new army should be able to close the holes along the border.

Twelve landing craft are put into production on August 21 in preparation for an attack against the Japanese mainland. The fighting in Australia continues. Allied forces in Sydney have the upper hand but it will take time to seize the port. Meanwhile, the Japanese are on the other end of Australia unopposed. The fleet is on its way back to the mainland to ferry more troops over.

Sydney is finally retaken on September 2nd this cut off the Japanese divisions in the interior. It was upsetting at first to deal with all these attacks in Australia but then I realized that the Japanese are just throwing away divisions so it works in my favor. The fleet has made it to Europe and is ready to transport troops. Before it is sent back with more divisions for Australia, there are 3 divisions stuck in Africa that will need transport back to Europe. There are just enough troops in my army to have 2 divisions on every border province. The 2nd Allied Army was not needed at the front so it will be a reserve force. Once I get more organized however, I will most likely take a French army off the line and put the 2nd Allied Army in its place. This will give me a veteran infantry army and the 1st Armored Army in reserve in case the Soviets decide to get cute.

The fleet arrives at its waypoint in India. I mistakenly just loaded the corps HQ and not the divisions, the fleet will have to back track and go get them. I’m finally building fresh divisions for the first time in years, mighty…militia divisions. Anticlimactic I know but they will free up some good divisions from rebel duty. Four militia divisions in all; one for Spain, one for Italy, and two for Germany.

I added 17 anti-tank brigades to production on October 4. In Australia the Japanese on the eastern end, near Sydney, are being mopped up. On the western end I’m redeploying troops to meet the threat.

December 5 saw the back of the Imperial Army, in Australia, broken. French reinforcements finally made it and have seized the last two ports that were in Japanese hands. There are 3 infantry corps now in Australia. One of them has just landed in the west and seized the ports while the other two are marching across to push the Japanese back. The USA has sent several divisions to Australia and they are thankfully being used to garrison the ports.



The militia divisions finished up on December 11 and were deployed. Greece has given France use of three of its infantry divisions. These will be added to the 2nd Allied Army. 160 IC is free and available to use at this point. Earlier in the game when Germany was still a kicking and I had spare IC but no manpower, I kind of went overboard. I built a ton of infrastructure and bases. A lot of that building finished and that is where the IC came from.

Played around a bit with production, seeing what I could build, paying attention to build time and manpower. So many things I’d like to do. I want some heavy armor, but a single division costs 60 IC! I checked out the tech screen to help me decide. France lost knowledge during the long period without much building from 1939 to the present. Construction practical is the exception and stands at a respectable 56. Air theory and partial for light aircraft is good too. Surprisingly automotive theory and practical is good. I don’t think I will construct tactical bombers now. They’d be nice but would take a long time to produce them in numbers that would make them useful.



63 brigades are needed to give all French infantry divisions 5 brigades each. Mainly going to go with AT with some Art mixed in. I decided on upgrading all motorized divisions into mechanized in the 1st Armored Army, this used up most of the IC which I didn’t expect.

The landing craft are about to finish so the fleet in the Pacific has been dispatched to the mainland to join with them. Things in Australia are going well; the Japanese have no ports and have yet to send any reinforcements.

Three infantry division are put into production. These divisions are needed to help reinforce the 2nd army. The Belgium Free Corps (which is attached to the 2nd Army) has performed excellent in the war against Germany but it has been permanently weakened due to some brigades being destroyed. I really hate to do this; my remaining military leaders are a precious commodity. But I don’t know if Belgium can reinforce its forces anymore. This will still make us two divisions short of a full corps, I will try and build two more divisions later when I have a clear picture of the OOB.

By January 1, 1945 the landing craft have already been combined with the French navy and will soon carry the rest of 1st Allied Army to Saigon in preparation for an invasion of the Japanese homelands.

What is left of the 1st Allied Army on the mainland of Europe is now safely in Vietnam along with the air force by January 19. The fleet is heading back home to pick up the 5th Army and transport it over to Vietnam. In production news, the 17 anti-tank brigades finished and were evenly distributed throughout the Army.

Have about 150 IC available and that means it’s time to make a major decision. I have to figure out now how I want to fight the USSR in a future war. In a perfect game I always enjoy the “break down the door and punch them in nose method” (I made that name up myself) which is to say just keep pushing them back and eventually you will annex them. Not able to do that here because of lack of manpower and I’m hesitant of the supply system. So it comes down to how I want to trap the Red Army by encirclement, a large one or a several smaller encirclements? I originally planned on attacking Turkey, and then once they were defeated immediately declare war on the USSR. Then land around Leningrad and do a huge encirclement. That however, is quite a grand plan and I do not believe I have the skill or resources to pull it off. Radar stations in the Middle East have revealed the Soviets have a sizeable force along the Turkish border so it isn’t unguarded as I thought it would be.

On a side note I love radar stations, wish I would have known earlier that they revealed enemy units.

Getting back on track, my current plan would call for encirclements but on a much smaller scale. So the choice is between adding some mechanized troops with TD and SArt or building heavy armor. Both have merit, build mechs for much needed speed and the ability to hold ground that the armor takes, or building some heavy tanks to ensure a breakthrough could be achieved. Both are really needed. I must be able to breakthrough Soviet lines when the time comes. On the other side of the coin the mechanized force needs to be bulked up so it can hold the line until infantry can be moved up. I big problem in the fight against Germany was the lack of motorized troops that could keep pace with the armor.

I went with a middle ground choice. Upgrading 6 armor brigades to heavy armor this will give me 3 heavy armored divisions. Two mechanized based divisions were added to production as well. This also had the side benefit of enlightening me to a mistake I’ve been making for a while. While I was putting together these mech divisions I noticed that TD slowed it down significantly. Looking at the technology tab I have been neglecting light armor tech. I thought anti-tank covered its upgrades but it is actually light armor that does. Hopefully this middle ground choice will do the trick. I do plan on building more mechanized divisions later on or upgrading existing forces.

Around March 15, I begin to toy with the idea of trying to land in Japan now. Best case scenario if I wait to build more naval units it would take the better part of a year. The entire 1st allied army and 5th army have arrived in the pacific and can be used. The problem is, the entire plan hinges on the Imperial Navy deciding not to show up at the landing. Interestingly in Australia my forces seem to be cut off from northern Australia. It would seem the Japanese did enough damage to the infrastructure on both coasts to separate north from south. Had to move my forces to a much more southern port which will increase the time it would take to send them to Japan if needed.

I decided to try and invade the mainland and risk the Imperial Fleet being none the wiser. I loaded up what I could. I wasn’t sure if they were full though so I moved the fleet out of port and ordered some divisions to move there. No sooner had this started than the Japanese attacked! It happened so fast and was so unexpected I never saw the strength of the attacking fleet, but I won. I assumed this fleet is going somewhere to repair so I would continue with the invasion as planned. Apparently I can’t make the leap from Saigon to Japan. Looking around the map there isn’t many options. The USA did invade the Philippines but they only managed to take a province or two and neither had a port. The British managed to lose Hong Kong (imagine that) but if it were retaken that should increase the navy’s reach enough to go to japan. It was easy enough, only a single garrison to defend it. The fleet was rebased and now within striking distance. The goal will be Nagasaki, as it is closest and there is another port close by. Taking two ports should ensure the invasion force has enough supplies to carry the fight to Tokyo.



Success! The French forces are able to seize two valuable ports in short order. I dared to hope that the port would be lighting defended but it was completely undefended. I’ll take it. The gamble has paid off and France now has a foothold in Japan. Over in Europe I noticed that my upgrading is finally finished, France now commands heavy armor! Not only that but they are up-to-date tech was. These mighty tanks were feared by French forces during the war with Germany. In fact whole offenses were planned just to destroy one heavy armored division and if it worked was celebrated as a great victory.





I will expand the foothold and call in more reinforcements. I expect Japan will fall shortly, at least the home islands. As I mentioned before with the control of the home islands taken from Japan, they are finished. This leaves the interesting question of what to do after the invasion is complete? Don’t think I’m getting too far ahead of myself as some units built now would not be finished for months. The remnants of the Empire of Japan will have to be dealt with. But I don’t consider them much after their homeland is taken. Regardless of their strength my next conquest will be their territory in China. There is valuable manpower there. I’m even considering going to war with Nationalist China to secure even more manpower, I’m sure my communist allies would love that. The French ground forces in the pacific will most likely stay there for the remainder of the game. They can take Vladivostok in a war with the USSR or at least harass them and force the Soviets to commit troops to the Far East.



I’m glad that I didn’t invest heavily into the navy now. Once Japan is finished they don’t really have a job. I will need to divide the navy. Transports will be needed in the Pacific for obvious reasons but in the event of war with the USSR I need a significant force in the Baltic for amphibious operations. Need to take a good look at the technology tab and decide if I want to keep current naval research going or cancel it outright.

Other things to consider are what to build with the currently available IC which is 134. Mechanized divisions are at the top of the list, maybe even some interceptors to ensure air supremacy. Haven’t had to worry about this in a while but the influx of new units has dropped my officer ratio it is currently at 97% and needs to be raised.

I think I will go out on a high note and this update has come to its conclusion. As always thanks for reading!

One last picture to give you a view of the size of the Red Army:

 
After the war with the USSR starts I would let Poland to get annexed by the Russians so on your counter-attack you don't have supply problems. Also the fact that a significant amount of the soviet army is in Yugoslavia has to work in your favour.

** HArm with Mech is a waste of resources (and speed). I prefer to add HArm in an Inf-Inf-Art division and leave Arms with Mechs and TD/SP-Art so they all share almost the same speed.
 
After the war with the USSR starts I would let Poland to get annexed by the Russians so on your counter-attack you don't have supply problems. Also the fact that a significant amount of the soviet army is in Yugoslavia has to work in your favour.

Look at the last screenshot; he's already done that and he maybe even mentioned in the chapter before. I think he knows what he's doing :p

It will be trully interesting to see how this turns out. Surely after Axis is gone of course, but I guess they should all surrender with Japan.
 
You could always do the DH WW1 Polish Pocket. Let the Russians advance until they've reached the historic border between pre-WW1 Germany and Imperial Russia and then slice down from East Prussia and trap the entire Russian army in Western Poland and drink of Stalin's sweet sweet tears.

Then sweep down from the north, land some soldiers near what was the Romanian-Soviet border and lock up their army in Yugoslavia while your northernmost soldiers make the march on St. Petersburg. Might also want to try a diplomatic offensive on Finland.

Of course all of this depends on your ability to break through in the north at that crucial point, and if the Soviet AI has any sense at all they'll fortify that section and guard it like their first born child.

Also I think you may want to initiate hostilities. The Soviet army is not going to be getting any weaker and unlike you, they don't have manpower restraints limiting the size of their armies.
 
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After the war with the USSR starts I would let Poland to get annexed by the Russians so on your counter-attack you don't have supply problems. Also the fact that a significant amount of the soviet army is in Yugoslavia has to work in your favour.

** HArm with Mech is a waste of resources (and speed). I prefer to add HArm in an Inf-Inf-Art division and leave Arms with Mechs and TD/SP-Art so they all share almost the same speed.
Poland will be allowed to be conquered, I’ve already established my defensive line behind it. The Soviets are in force in the south eastern Europe, I look at it favorably as well:happy:.

The HArm was put together for firepower not speed, their purpose will be to rupture the Soviet line. You do bring up a good point about the mech though. I never considered using them elsewhere and take advantage of their speed. I will have to check numbers and see if the mech makes the unit have more firepower.

It will be trully interesting to see how this turns out.
I’m looking forward to fighting the Soviets. I don't know if I can beat them but *I'm certain I won't lose to them at this point.

*No one is allowed to quote this if the Soviets pull an Alexander I and go to Paris:p

Surely after Axis is gone of course, but I guess they should all surrender with Japan.
They better surrender with Japan.

drink of Stalin's sweet sweet tears.
lol :laugh:

Of course all of this depends on your ability to break through in the north at that crucial point, and if the Soviet AI has any sense at all they'll fortify that section and guard it like their first born child.

Also I think you may want to initiate hostilities. The Soviet army is not going to be getting any weaker and unlike you, they don't have manpower restraints limiting the size of their armies.
That is a good plan. Not sure what I’m going to do as of yet. The way I deployed the army was in case the Soviets attacked me before I was ready. I’m going to wait until I reorganize the OOB and get some more divisions built before I seriously consider just how to attack.

I plan on attacking after Japan has been conquered as you said the Soviets will only get stronger.
 
I suggest putting an American and British rally point (defensive marker) at Berlin. That way they'll at least be in the neighbourhood when things go hot.

Assuming they don't then get lost and wander off someplace else. Lot of communists on the Ethiopian border and I don't fully trust those Balinese... they're plotting something, I know it. Better station fifteen divisions in Indonesia just in case. Ensure they're all heavy armour, we'll be fighting in jungle in an island hopping campaign, remember?

And we must secure Greece. Send all remaining divisions to Greece. Greece is the key to the battle for Europe. (Seriously the US AI seems obsessed with Greece for some reason).
 
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